Franklin County Tip-Off: Chambersburg boys kick season off with decisive victory

CASHS's Tyron Williams (30) takes a shot against Waynesboro defense. Local teams opened their season during the Franklin County Basketball Tip-off Tournament at Greencastle, Friday, December 8, 2017.(Photo11: Markell DeLoatch, GameTimePa.com)

Franklin County's high school basketball season kicked off on Friday, as the Franklin County Tip-off Tournament's first round saw Chambersburg, Waynesboro, Greencastle-Antrim and James Buchanan all square off.

Here is a roundup of the boys action from Friday night in Greencastle.

Chambersburg 59, Waynesboro 27

It was a big opening night, literally, for the Chambersburg Trojans boys' basketball team, as, on the backs of strong play by big men Tyron Williams and Joel Torres, beating Waynesboro 59-27.

The Trojans made their gameplan known from the tip-off, as, following Tyler Coller winning the tip for Chambersburg, Evan Shreffler fired a pass directly into the post for Joel Torres for an easy lay-in.

"In the locker room, Coach said the biggest thing for our team is feeding the bigs," Torres said. "And that's what we did today."

This was the story for the rest of the first half, as the Trojans utilized the size of Torres and Tyron Williams, as the pair of bigs combined for 17 of Chambersburg's 30 points in the two quarters to give their team a 30-17 lead heading into the intermission.

Waynesboro narrowed the deficit to single digits by opening the second half on a 4-0 run. But, with Torres sitting on the bench due to foul trouble, the Trojans made a bigger run, outscoring the Indians 16-2 for the remainder off the quarter to take a 23-point lead into the fourth, an advantage they would not relinquish.

"I felt like they had the momentum a little bit [after that run]," head coach Shawn Shreffler said. "And we responded with a 16-2 run. In that situation, to me showed as step for us in terms of mental toughness. To come together in that moment to keep them off it and put momentum back in our hands."

Williams and Cade Brindle each scored 11 to lead the Trojans.

"It feels great [to win]," Torres said. "But we still have more progress to make back at practice, and we get to come out and play in the championship tomorrow."

They'll take on Greencastle-Antrim Saturday night.

Greencastle-Antrim 75, James Buchanan 47

This game was much closer than it appeared, in large part to a sluggish start by Greencastle and a physical first half by the Rockets.

But after returning to what head coach Rick Lewis described as "Greencastle basketball" the Blue Devils quickly reoriented, outscoring the Rockets by over 20 points in the second half to advance to the finals of the Franklin County Tip-Off against Chambersburg.

After jumping out to a lead as large as eight in the first quarter, James Buchanan fought to even the score up at 28 in the second quarter. Lewis credited the Rockets for outworking Greencastle during that stretch.

"James Buchanan played incredibly hard," Lewis said. "We've been telling the kids all along that we're going to take everyones best shot. And to be frank I was very disappointed with how we played [in the first half]."

The Rockets made most of their run when guard Brandon Stuhler was on the bench with three fouls. So, when he came back in the third quarter, he knew he had to make the most of it.

"I was just down on myself, I felt bad, because I felt like I was letting the team down," Stuhler said. "I just wanted to play hard and keep playing my game."

Stuhler finished with 16 points, including 10 in the second half, to help the Blue Devils blow away the Rockets.